Peekaboo
by AccioMidnight
Summary: James and baby Harry play a little game with the invisibility cloak. Jily


_AN: Just a little Jily oneshot I wrote for my friend nevillelongbotom on tumblr. :)_

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_June 28th, 1981_

The first time he'd done it, Harry had cried for half an hour. He probably shouldn't have snuck up on Lily either, because she broke his glasses with one quick punch.

The second time he'd done it, Harry had been more confused than amused.

But this third time, oh, he'd get it right this time. He'd even put his glasses in his pocket for safekeeping.

James hovered in the doorway that separated the kitchen from the living room. For a few pleasant moments, he watched his beautiful wife make silly faces at Harry, who was in a terrible, teething mood. His son just huffed and kept patting his sticky hands on the table. James made sure the cloak covered him completely and he tiptoed through the kitchen until he was right behind Harry. He crouched down so that his face would be level with his son's eyes. Before he could pluck Harry straight from his high chair, the eleven month old swung his arms back and hit his father right in the eye. James yelped and, immediately, Lily scooped Harry out of his seat with one arm and pointed her wand at her husband with the other.

"James?!"

He slid the top of the cloak off and folded it in his hands until Lily pocketed her wand.

"For God's sake, James..." Lily pushed past him and took Harry into the living room. James followed.

"Sorry, Lils," he ran a hand through his already messy hair, "I just know he'll feel better if I play around with him. He's been cranky all week."

Lily pulled Harry's spit covered hand out of his mouth and wiped it clean with her sleeve. James put his glasses back on and watched her tenderly examine their son's tiny teeth. She peppered his forehead with a kiss each time he winced at her touch. Lily was an amazing mother and it made James feel a million times better. It also made him feel a million times stronger out on the battlefield because he knew that if anything ever happened to him, Lily would take great care of Harry.

"I was making him feel better just fine, wasn't I, Harry?"

Harry spit his mother's pinky finger out of his mouth and his glossy, green eyes said it all.

James looked from the cloak in his hands to his son, to Lily and back at Harry, and back at the cloak.

"Harry." James spread out the cloak in his hands and waited for his son to pay attention to him. "Harry." He said, a little louder than he meant to.

Baby Harry was frightened by the unexpected shout and toppled over. James threw the cloak on top of his son and he disappeared.

Before Lily could say a word, James yanked the cloak up and draped it over himself as quickly as possible. Harry had managed to sit himself up and he looked positively ecstatic at the neat trick. James grinned behind the cloak, mostly because only his top half was covered and his long legs looked dismembered on the floor where they were sitting. But Harry didn't care.

"Da-da?!" He squealed and nearly fell over again. James caught his wife trying to smother her smile. Making sure to stay mostly under the cloak, he lifted Harry up into the air for a moment before he placed him in Lily's lap. Lily slipped her fingers into Harry's fists and bounced his hands up and down.

"Where's Dada, Harry?"

"Dada!" In an amazing imitation of the same tone Lily used when she was particularly happy with him, Harry called out for his father. James was never one to disappoint.

"Boo!"

Harry shrieked when his father's head reappeared out of thin air. Just his head.

"Hey, Harry-" James grinned and repeated the game. "Boo!"

Over and over, Harry laughed and James snickered and Lily played along brilliantly. Between the gasps and the giggles and and a well timed bout of indigestion from Harry, it hit James that these were the kind of memories he wanted to have forever. This was the kind of fun he'd always dreamed of for his child. He could hardly wait for Harry to grow older so he could teach him how to beat his mother at gobstones, and to fly, and to be the best Chaser Gryffindor ever saw, after the magnificent James Potter. He wanted Sirius to teach Harry how to flirt with girls and he wanted to teach his son how to pick a good one instead. Maybe Sirius would settle down in a few years and have a kid of his own. Harry would be their best friend no matter the age difference; James just knew it. And maybe then, they'd be able to convince Remus to finally ask Marlene out on a date, considering the persistent witch had had her eye on their intelligent friend for ages. Marlene would be good for Remus. He wanted Peter to show Harry how to make all the magical paper art he'd learned throughout his years at school when he should have been paying attention. He wanted his son to be of reading age so Lily could take the stack of children's books out of their closet and give them all to Harry so he could love them as much as his mother did. These were the moments James was working so hard to reach; the idyllic images that pushed him when the fight seemed endless.

As much as James wanted Harry to be older, he wanted him to never grow up. It was amazing that almost a year ago Harry had just been born. His first year had passed so quickly and James didn't like feeling so old, so young. He was only 21, for Merlin's sake!

He was broken from his reverie when Harry broke out of Lily's hold and yanked the cloak.

"Dada!"

"Oh, you found him, Harry!" Lily scooted over so that she was able to fit under James' waiting arm. He pecked his wife on the cheek.

"If he stays this good at finding things, he could probably be a Seeker." James joked as he pulled Lily a bit closer. She ducked under his arm and laid her head down in his lap.

"What a scandal that'd be." She tutted before she picked up Harry and placed him on her stomach. The invisibility cloak swept over part of her and part of Harry, which made for an interesting sight.

"Where's Mama's tummy, Harry?"

Harry didn't listen. He was far too interested in spreading the cloak over himself. James chuckled and gazed down at his happy wife.

These were the moments he would never take for granted.


End file.
